Lord Great Chamberlain
wearing the court uniform of the Lord Great Chamberlain.]] In the United Kingdom, the Lord Great Chamberlain is the sixth of the Great Officers of State (not to be confused with the Great Offices of State), ranking beneath the Lord Privy Seal and above the Lord High Constable. The Lord Great Chamberlain has charge over the Palace of Westminster (though since the 1960s his personal authority has been limited to the royal apartments and Westminster Hall). On formal state occasions, he wears a distinctive scarlet court uniform and bears a gold key and a white stave as the insignia of his office. The position is a hereditary one, held since 1780 in gross. At any one time, a single person actually exercises the office of Lord Great Chamberlain. The various individuals who hold fractions of the Lord Great Chamberlainship are technically each Joint Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain, and the right to exercise the office for a given reign rotates proportionately to the fraction of the office held. For instance, the Marquesses of Cholmondeley hold one-half of the office, and may therefore exercise the office or appoint a deputy every alternate reign. (A Deputy Lord Great Chamberlain is a person exercising the office who is not personally a co-heir to the office; historically these have been sons or husbands of co-heirs as the office has never been exercised by a woman, as women were barred from sitting in the Lords until the present reign). The office of Lord Great Chamberlain is distinct from the non-hereditary office of Lord Chamberlain of the Household, a position in the monarch's household. This office arose in the 14th century as a deputy of the Lord Great Chamberlain to fulfil the latter's duties in the Royal Household, but now they are quite distinct. The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, but the Act provided that a hereditary peer exercising the office of Lord Great Chamberlain (as well as the Earl Marshal) be exempt from such a rule, in order to perform ceremonial functions. History of the office The office was originally held by Robert Malet, a son of one of the leading companions of William the Conqueror. In 1133, however, King Henry I declared Malet's estates and titles forfeit, and awarded the office of Lord Great Chamberlain to Aubrey de Vere, whose son was created Earl of Oxford. Thereafter, the Earls of Oxford held the title almost continuously until 1526, with a few intermissions due to the forfeiture of some Earls for treason. In 1526, however, the fourteenth Earl of Oxford died, leaving his aunts as his heirs. The earldom was inherited by a more distant heir-male, his second cousin. The Sovereign then decreed that the office belonged to The Crown, and was not transmitted along with the earldom. The Sovereign appointed the fifteenth Earl to the office, but the appointment was deemed for life and was not heritable. The family's association with the office was interrupted in 1540, when the fifteenth earl died and Thomas Cromwell, the King's chief adviser, was appointed Lord Great Chamberlain. After Cromwell's attainder and execution later the same year, the office passed through a few more court figures, until 1553, when it was passed back to the De Vere family, the sixteenth Earl of Oxford, again as an uninheritable life appointment.Loades, D. (2004) Intrigue and Treason: the Tudor Court, 1547–1558 Harlow: Pearson, p.309 Later, Queen Mary I ruled that the Earls of Oxford were indeed entitled to the office of Lord Great Chamberlain on an hereditary basis. Thus, the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth Earls of Oxford held the position on a hereditary basis until 1626, when the eighteenth Earl died, again leaving a distant relative as heir male, but a closer one as a female heir. The House of Lords eventually ruled that the office belonged to the heir male, Robert Bertie, 14th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, who later became Earl of Lindsey. The office remained vested in the Earls of Lindsey, who later became Dukes of Ancaster and Kesteven. In 1779, however, the fourth Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven died, leaving two sisters as female heirs, and an uncle as an heir male. The uncle became the fifth and last Duke, but the House of Lords ruled that the two sisters were jointly Lord Great Chamberlain and could appoint a Deputy to fulfil the functions of the office. The barony of Willoughby de Eresby went into abeyance between the two sisters, but the Sovereign terminated the abeyance and granted the title to the elder sister, Priscilla Bertie, 21st Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. The younger sister later married the first Marquess of Cholmondeley. The office of Lord Great Chamberlain, however, was divided between Priscilla and her younger sister Georgiana. Priscilla's share was eventually split between two of her granddaughters, and has been split several more times since then. By contrast, Georgiana's share has been inherited by a single male heir each time; that individual has in each case been the Marquess of Cholmondeley, a title created for Georgiana's husband. The Lord Great Chamberlain also has a major part to play in royal coronations, having the right to dress the monarch on coronation day and to serve the monarch water before and after the coronation banquet, and also being involved in investing the monarch with the insignia of rule. Lord Great Chamberlains, 1130–1779 Joint hereditary Lord Great Chamberlains, 1780–present The fractions show the holder's share in the office, and the date they held it. The current ( ) holders of the office are shown in bold face. 1780–1828|Georgiana=Georgiana Cholmondeley, Marchioness of Cholmondeley 1780–1838}} 1828–1865|George=George Cholmondeley, 2nd Marquess of Cholmondeley 1838–1870|William=William Cholmondeley, 3rd Marquess of Cholmondeley 1870–1884}} 1865–1870|Clementina=Clementina Drummond-Willoughby, 24th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby 1870–1888|Charlotte=Charlotte Augusta Carrington, Lady Carrington 1870–1879|Charles=''Charles George Cholmondeley, Viscount Malpas}} 1888–1910|Charles=Charles Wynn-Carington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire 1879–1928|George=George Cholmondeley, 4th Marquess of Cholmondeley 1884–1923}} 1910–1951|Marjorie=Marjorie Wilson, Baroness Nunburnholme 1928–1968|Alexandra=Lady Alexandra Llewellen Palmer 1928–1955|Ruperta=Ruperta Legge, Countess of Dartmouth 1928–1963|Judith=''Judith Keppel, Countess of Albemarle|Victoria=Lady Victoria Weld-Forester 1928–1966|George=George Cholmondeley, 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley 1923–1968}} 1951–1983|Charles=Charles Wilson, 3rd Baron Nunburnholme 1968–1974|Anthony=Brig. Anthony Llewellen Palmer 1955–1990|Timothy=''Timothy Llewellen Palmer|Derek=Derek Keppel, Viscount Bury 1928–1968|Harry=Sir Henry Legge-Bourke 1966–1973|Hugh=Hugh Cholmondeley, 6th Marquess of Cholmondeley 1968–1990}} 1983–|Ben=Ben Wilson, 4th Baron Nunburnholme 1974–1998|Julian=Julian Llewellen Palmer 1990–2002|Rufus='Rufus Keppel, 10th Earl of Albemarle' 1968–|William=William Legge-Bourke 1973–2009|David='David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley' 1990–}} 2002–|Mary=Lady Mary Findlay 1963–2003|Elizabeth=Lady Elizabeth Basset 1963–2000|Diana=Lady Diana Matthews 1963–1970|Barbara=Lady Barbara Kwiatkowska 1963–2013|Josceline=Josceline Chichester, Marchioness of Donegall 1963–1995}} 2003–2015 Christopher Findlay 2015-|Bryan='Bryan Basset' 2000–2010|James=Col James Gustavus Hamilton-Russell 1970–|Jan='Jan Witold Kwiatkowski' 2013–|Patrick='Patrick Chichester, 8th Marquess of Donegall' 1995–}} 1998–|Tatiana=The Hon. Tatiana Dent 1998–|Ines=The Hon. Ines Garton 1998–|Ysabel=The Hon. Ysabel Wilson 1998–|David='David Basset' 2010|Michael='Michael James Basset' 2010–|Harry=Capt. Harry Russell Legge-Bourke 2009–}} Persons exercising the office of Lord Great Chamberlain, 1780–present References External links * www.debretts.com * 1965 decisions regarding the Lord Great Chamberlain's responsibilities in the Palace of Westminster * Planning Act 2008, s. 227(5)(h,i) * Principal Office Holders in the House of Lords. House of Lords Library Note (LLN 2015/007), includes a very brief overview of the Lord Great Chamberlain * www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk Category:Constitution of the United Kingdom Category:Ceremonial officers in the United Kingdom